LAGOS, Nigeria - July 20, 2010 - Gateway Business, a Vodacom Group company and leading supplier of African telecommunications services, has selected Cisco for its multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network in Nigeria and across sub-Saharan Africa. This deployment means that Cisco technology solutions will drive an IP next generation network (NGN) for Gateway Business, employing intelligent MPLS technologies.

By utilizing Cisco technology, Gateway Business is able to use MPLS at the core of its pan-African network and a blend of fiber, wireless or satellite at the access level. Gateway Business is one of the largest independent providers of secure, high speed, reliable bandwidth services in Africa. Over 1,500 multi-national corporations rely on Gateway to deliver business critical information between head quarters and branch offices from simple voice solutions, to private MPLS virtual private networks (VPNs) and internet access.

In Nigeria, Gateway Business is deploying a national MPLS network, rolling out wireless broadband services across 36 different states in 2010 and 2011.

Gateway Communications, the groups Carrier Services and Wholesale division, is also an investor in the West Africa Cable System (WACS), which will bring additional capacity in to Nigeria by June 2011. Through this agreement with Cisco Gateway will be able to immediately deploy a range of new services for customers in Nigeria, West Africa, and across the African continent.

Highlights / Key Facts:

Cisco IOS® MPLS technology solutions will enable Gateway Communications to build a next-generation intelligent network that delivers a wide variety of advanced, value-added services over a single infrastructure. This economical solution can be integrated seamlessly over any existing infrastructure, such as IP, Frame Relay, ATM, or Ethernet. Subscribers with differing access links can be aggregated on an MPLS edge without changing their current environments, as MPLS is independent of access technologies.

MPLS fuses the intelligence of routing with the performance of switching and provides significant benefits to networks with a pure IP architecture as well as those with IP and ATM or a mix of other Layer 2 technologies.

MPLS technology is key to scalable virtual private networks (VPNs) and end-to-end quality of service (QoS), enabling efficient utilization of existing networks to meet future growth and rapid fault correction of link and node failure. The technology also helps deliver highly scalable, differentiated end-to-end IP services with simpler configuration, management, and provisioning for both Internet providers and subscribers. A wide range of platforms support this solution, which is essential for both service provider and enterprise networks.

Executive Quotes:

Paul Jaikaran, executive director (Technology) Gateway Communications

"Gateway focuses on delivering an integrated end-user experience through high quality products and services to our customers throughout the sub-Saharan region. Cisco's leadership in IP solutions will enable us to maintain this competitive advantage by delivering converged voice, video, and data services on a common infrastructure to both consumers and business. This is another key milestone for Gateway Business as we continue to invest in and deploy world class terrestrial networks across Africa."

Richard Edet, general manager, Cisco Nigeria

"Innovative service providers like Gateway are rapidly bridging the digital divide and establishing connected communities. Gateway uniquely combines impressive global coverage with an unrivalled local presence and the Cisco powered MPLS network will help take its customer offering to the next level."

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About Gateway Business

Gateway Business is the leading provider of pan-African corporate connectivity and telecommunications. Gateway Business has customers in 42 sub-Saharan countries and works in partnership with Africa's largest businesses and many of the world's principal corporations, helping them stay connected across Africa and into the rest of the world.

With large scale investment in Africa, including new network build and data-centres in southern east and west Africa, Gateway Business provides managed network services and hosted solutions across all sub-Saharan Africa. Gateway Business has 350 local experts on the ground in Africa who are specialists in Oil & Gas, Banking, Mining and Logistics & Distribution, supporting a customer base of over 2,000 corporations.

Gateway Business is wholly owned by Vodacom Group Limited, which is listed on the JSE Limited under the symbol VOD. To find out more, please visit www.gatewaycomms.com.

About Gateway Communications

Gateway Communications is the largest provider of carrier solutions in Africa, providing voice and data services to Africa's leading mobile operators. With more than 50 transponders of satellite capacity over Africa it manages more connectivity over the continent than any other operator. Moreover, with 24 dedicated teleports, access to multiple SAT-3 and SEACOM landing ports, 17 African offices and teams of local experts, it has more on the ground support than any other operator.

Gateway Communications is recognised for setting the standards for tomorrow's communications: